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Ring o’ Fire, South

Song titles and colloquial terminology aside, you probably have an idea of what scientists mean when they talk about the “Ring of Fire” (National Geographic, Wikipedia).

However, even if you do, a bit of review will be useful for this post. Here’s an imaginative 360° Video that provides a top-level introduction.

Here’s a more mundane, but informative 2 minute introduction from National Geographic.

Notice that the videos don’t show or say much about the southernmost reaches of the Ring of Fire. That’s an unfortunate oversight. It turns out that there’s plenty of volcanic activity down around the South Pole, and due to some recent research, it’s clear that there’s more than anyone ever imagined.

Before getting into that new research, let’s take a quick look at the most well known volcano in Antarctica, Mount Erebus (Smithsonian, National Geographic, Wikipedia). It’s the southernmost active volcano on Earth, and it’s pretty impressive. Here’s a video of it erupting that some brave researchers managed to capture back in 2011.